Perth Council to Hear 5-Month Behaviour Probe Outcome at Closed-Door Meeting

Q: What chilling details lie hidden behind the disconnected phone call moments before a Perth father and his children were found dead in Bali?

The key detail is that the children’s mother reportedly raised the alarm after a phone call with Damien John Shaw in which she heard their four-year-old daughter crying and saying, “stop daddy,” before the line cut out and Shaw became unreachable. According to Indonesian police and multiple media reports, Shaw, 56, from Fremantle, was later found dead with his two children, aged six and four, inside the family’s rented bungalow in Kuta. The mother was in Jakarta at the time, having left Bali days earlier. After the call disconnected and she could not reach him again, she contacted the bungalow manager or neighbours and asked for an urgent welfare check. Neighbours, staff and the local community head reportedly knocked, called out and then forced open the door when there was no response. Inside, they found the bodies of Shaw and the two children. Police have said the case is being investigated as a suspected double murder-suicide, though the exact causes of death are still awaiting autopsy confirmation. Preliminary police findings indicate the children may have died as a result of violence, while Shaw is suspected to have taken his own life. Some reports allege the children were smothered, but police have not publicly finalised those findings. Investigators are examining CCTV, interviewing witnesses and working with consular officials as the inquiry continues. The mother, police say, remains in deep shock and grief.

2 articles · Updated · WAtoday · Sep 14

A closed-door meeting in Perth on Monday night is set to deliver the outcome of a five-month investigation into the City of Perth council’s behaviour.
The hearing marks the first formal reckoning after a lengthy process examining how the council conducted itself, though the recap gave no details of the findings.
The result could shape the council’s next steps and governance scrutiny in the city, with the meeting framed as the culmination of a months-long dispute.